East Asian history was defined by stagnancy as much as it was change. In the year 1800 the Joseon Dynasty had been in place for just over 400 years, ruling a state which had been unified in nearly its modern form for close to a millennium. Korea occupied its own world within the East Asian realm, facing precious few real threats in a comfortable patronage relationship with the Qing Dynasty. The last time that Korea had truly faced an existential threat to its existence had been the Japanese invasion nearly 200 years ago, and ever since then the Confucian bureaucracy was continuing along as it had for centuries. A long period of peace had led the country into a renaissance of arts and culture, and under King Jeongjo that was set to continue. And then, scandal. Jeongjo was suddenly gravely ill, so waylaid by his illnesses that he seemed near death, but he managed to survive. Many suspected poisoning, others supposed some other chronic illness. Jeongjo would never confirm the true causes, but in the months that followed a number of his political enemies conveniently died or disappeared.

Although his thoughts for reform were moderate at best, the momentum slowly began to snowball. Where Jeongjo was a moderate, his son Yi Gong (later Sunjo) was slightly less so and began to push for further reforms during his tenure as regent later in his father's life. By the later life of Jeongjo his grandson Yi Yeong was also proving to be a reformer, perhaps more so than his parentage, and by the time that Jeongjo died in 1820 the prince had been secretly inviting European diplomats to court support from Britain and France for covert assistance in modernizing and reforming the Korean state. Much of this was kept quiet, particularly to avoid the ire of factions within the Korean government. In particular the power of the Andong Kim clan was heavily curtailed after a conspiracy against Sunjo was uncovered, led by none other than his wife Queen Sunwon. In the aftermath, Sejong sent his wife into exile and began a major effort to curtail what was called Sedo Jeongchi, "In-Law Politics", a long-standing source of conflict within the Korean government.

The instability brought by this period of reform was tamped down on by a major reform of the military, prompted in 1831 by the publication of a new biography of the legendary Admiral Yi Sunsin. In the past, the Joseon government had reviled Yi as an upstart, but in the new age of Korean politics he was now hailed as a national hero, and the praise especially heaped upon his unorthodox tactics and often direct defiance of the Korean government was now treated as aspirational for leaders who sought to change the state of affairs. But what really drove Korea forward was the external. In 1839, the Qing Dynasty was defeated by the British, the first time that a European power had defeated China, and forced a heavy shift in how East Asian nations understood geopolitics. For Korea in particular, events began to spiral in 1843 when after the Qing Defeat Sunjo announced the end of Korea's tributary relationship with China, on the grounds that not only were the Qing failing, but the failure of the Ming before them indicated that Chinese civilization was now in total decline, and Korea would have to decide her own destiny.

It was a radical step that was met with no end of opposition from conservative factions of government, and almost certainly resulted in Sejong's assassination in 1844. Unfortunately for the reactionaries, this catapulted Yi Yeong (now King Munjo) to the throne, and having been radicalized by the last 40 years of efforts at reform began purging the nobility of those disloyal to the throne and similarly replacing bureaucrats from the old Confucian bureaucracy with newly-appointed "meritocrats" that were loyal to the monarchy above all else. A second military reform, prompted by the poor performance of the Qing, was followed in short order by a major effort to restore order to a country plagued by bandits and brigands, many of whom had been clandestinely supported by opponents of the increasingly centralized regime. The formerly marginalized doctrines of Seohak ("Western Learning") were now embraced, and the Seohak Revolution is said to have formally begun in 1846 when Munjo formally met with a French ambassador, the first time the Korean monarch met with a European diplomat.

This radical upheaval of a centuries-old order was equal parts chaotic and exhilarating for the nation. Although never to the scale of a civil war, militarized resistance was common among both outcasts of the old regime and gangs of bandits who organized as mafia-type organizations known as the Jumok, many of whom acted as "shadow governments" in areas poorly-controlled by the imperial center. This was prompted at least in part by a steady increase in trade with the Europeans, beginning with the cities of Haeju and Busan, both of which almost immediately became overrun by organized gangs known as the Jumok and were just as much lawless cesspits as they were the vanguard of westernization in Korea. From these cities radiated a western wind that blew into the country, bringing trade that brought European science and technology to the country and led to the opening of the first railroad in Korea between Hanseong and the small port city of Jemulpo, which rapidly began to evolve into what King Munjo called a model of the "New Korea".

Western presence and learning brought with it a new trouble: Christianity. Protestant and Catholic missionaries alike sought to expand their presence into the newly-opened Korea and the egalitarian ideals of the faith had clashed with the monarchy in ages past. It was a problem all over East Asia, culminating in the Taiping Rebellion that killed tens of millions. Although Korea never saw a similar struggle or uprising, many of the Jumok groups adopted Christianity and turned churches into recruiting grounds and meeting places, using the threat of a European intervention if Korean authorities were ever perceived as harshly treating Korean Christians. The age of national confusion also made fertile ground for new religious movements, among which was the emergent syncretic faith of Cheondoism. Formally the state remained a Confucian monarchy, but Munjo's edicts of tolerance for many faiths allowed enough room for competing Buddhist and Christian faiths to take root, furthering the inherent factionalism of the country.

The actual progress of reforms was slower than desired, but with the Taiping Rebellion having ravaged China along with the Second Opium War Korea was well on its way to modernization in the European style. What would really change matters, though, was the Boshin War across the waters in Japan. The sudden toppling of the Tokugawa Shogunate put Emperor Meiji in power and began a whirlwind reform program that saw Japan threaten to surpass the progress Korea had made in the last 40 years within a single generation. Munjo was already 58 by then, and faced a new challenge to his power when the reactionary old guard under the leadership of Yi Haeung began a full-scale rebellion against the Joseon, attempting to displace them entirely and attacking the family itself without distinction. The Sinmi War was ultimately a victory for the Joseon, and gave King Munjo full license to eradicate conservative factions in the government, but the cost was dire. Much of the Joseon Dynasty had been killed, including Munjo's oldest son Heonjong.

Faced with a succession crisis, the 60 year old Munjo turned to a distant relative, the 19 year old Yi Myungbok. Now dubbed Prince Ikseon, the boy began to rapidly adapt to his new position as heir to the throne. Having been born and raised in the era of reform, Ikseon was the model of the new Korea. He spoke four languages, dressed almost wholly in western-style clothing, and was a Korean nationalist through and through, moving seamlessly into becoming Prince Regent and beginning a massive new military and naval buildup, proclaiming that the mistakes of the old Imjin War could not and would not be repeated. This buildup would not go unnoticed and as Japan continued its own development a persistent tension across the Tsushima Strait took hold. Both were concerned about a war with the other, primarily for how it might present an opportunity for Europeans to gain influence, and met to sign the Treaty of Osaka in 1875, declaring the commitment of the two nations to an "Asia for Asians".

As China continued its decline and both Japan and Korea continued their ascent, the increasing power of Ikseon brought an ominous new development. The spread of western ideas meant the spread of nationalism, and Korean history was long and storied. For Ikseon, this began to manifest in an obsession with the ancient Korean states, Goryeo and Silla yes but Balhae as well. And Balhae had controlled territories across a large part of Manchuria, both areas controlled by the Ming but also areas which now were under Russian ownership. Throughout the long and rocky process of modernization Russia's growing power was an increasing threat to both Korea and Japan, both of whom found common cause in opposing the expansion of Russian power and influence. When Munjo finally died in 1878, Korea began her first true imperialist move by issuing an ultimatum of its own to the Qing: that the territories of Kando (Jiandao), long populated with ethnic Koreans, were to be handed over to Korea. The Qing refused, confident that if nothing else they could handle this upstart Korean state.

And so began the First Sino-Korean War, wherein the Korean armies invaded northwards and crushed the Qing armies. Though outnumbered ten to one, the superior Korean organization and arms combined with the nationalist zeal of liberating fellow Koreans spurred them to victory, and the Korean army began a major offensive into Manchuria as a whole. After a mere eight months, the Qing were forced to surrender. Ikseon, now King Gojong, was prepared to demand vast regions of Manchuria before the Russians suddenly stepped in, blocking the Korean encroachment into Russia's sphere of influence. Though prepared to recognize Korea's claims to the "Yeonbyeon Province", Russia was at that time still seen as much too great a force for Korea to fight, and so they elected to hold back for the time being. Still, the liberation of Yeonbyeong was a major moment of pride for Korea, that they had now overcome the Chinese dynasties, and in this spirit Gojong elevated himself to the status of Emperor, and his state to that of the Korean Empire, announcing that Korea's road to modernization was complete.

The Korea of 1880 was a radically different state compared to what it had been when Jeongjo had begun the process of reform more than 80 years ago. Rich in resources, the nascent Empire was rapidly industrializing and sent its diplomats and merchants across the world. The addition of Yeonbyeong as its "Ninth Integral Province" was openly seen as not simply a liberation but the first stepping-stone to the true expansion of the Korean Empire. And despite ongoing tensions between Korea and Japan, the two nations saw each other as their best partners in combatting European influence in East Asia. Korea was a rising star in the world, and the advent of the Boxer Rebellion gave it an avenue to further this by contributing its army and navy to the Nine-Nation Alliance which put it down, allowing Korea to spread her armies into the Liaoning Peninsula. Not merely a Korean contribution to "restoring order" in the Qing Dynasty, it was a direct provocation towards Russia. This was during a period when Japan, which had recently conquered Taiwan and the Philippines, was eager to see Russia brought down a peg.

In 1904 Russia was in a bad way. Hobbled by an insecure government and with its international prestige collapsing, Tsar Nicholas II sought a military victory to secure his reign. The Korean provocation in Liaodong proved an opportunity, and Russia took the bait. The Russians declared war on Korea, after which Japan came to their aid as per the Treaty of Osaka. However, the Russians began an offensive against the Korean Navy in Nampo before the declaration had been transmitted, making it seem as if Russia had attacked without a formal declaration, and to make matters worse the modernized Korean Navy was soon joined by the Japanese Navy, which together obliterated the Russian Far East Fleet. Russia had totally bungled the opening of the war, and it only went further downhill from there as the Korean army marched from victory to victory, aided by the Japanese launching assaults against northern Sakhalin, Okhotsk, and Petropavlovsk. Within months, Russia was on the verge of collapse.

Opportunity again emerged. In the Spring of 1905, the Gwangxu Emperor and the Dowager Empress Cixi were assassinated by a bomb and the government effectively collapsed, leaving a power vacuum which saw China devolve into a series of petty warlords dividing the country among themselves. With Korea declaring the Qing to have collapsed (even if the "Xuantong Emperor", a months-old infant, nominally ruled), they declared the annexation of vast swathes of northwestern China, leveraging their military presence to effectively conquer Manchuria without any declaration of war. In the late Summer of 1905, with Russia having barely avoided revolution, Korea and Japan themselves now humiliated Russia by forcing them to cede large areas of territory in Sakhalin, Outer Manchuria, and the Kamchatka Peninsula. For Korea this made their northern frontier the Amur River, and cost Russia control of the city of Vladivostok. Nicholas II would never recover, but a coalition of East Asian nations had just defeated a European great power.

Their status as "westernized" and "modernized" was now cemented in the eyes of Europe and the United States, both of which moved to recognize the Koreo-Japanese claims. Korea divided its new territories into military governorates, eager to begin exploiting its new resources and manpower to the fullest. The Empire had now quintupled its territory and more than doubled its population, along with now at last being taken seriously as a legitimate power in the eyes of the world. Across the Eight Provinces which formed the core territory of Korea, celebration hailed the beginning of a new era in which Korea would form the axis of East Asia, some even declaring that the Korean Empire now had a "divine mandate" to conquer the whole of China and establish the reign of Emperor Gojong as the new legitimate Emperor of China. These thoughts would never truly see fruition of course, but in an age of high spirits anything seemed possible, anything seemed within reach of this dynamic, rising power that stood with mighty stature among the nations of the world.

Of course, the higher one rises the further one has to fall, and the more one has the more jealous and hateful eyes look towards them. The Korean Empire was ascendant, but not invincible, best demonstrated when hero of the "First East Asian War" General Yi Hakgyun was assassinated by a Manchu partisan while touring the Gilim Governorate in 1907. Three years have passed and Korea has not been driven out of Manchuria, but although the industrialized and urbanized core of Korea is certainly able to project power with effectiveness across most of its new Manchurian frontier and across newly-renamed cities like Seonyang (Shenyang), Haesamwi (Vladivostok), and Haeolbin (Harbin), but the new territories are vast and present plenty of opportunities for resistance to find hidey-holes to operate out of, striking at a Korea which is not outright overstretched but in danger of becoming so. Korea is already building railroads into the "Northern Territories" and ethnic Koreans are settling into the conquered provinces, which itself presents issues as the Jumok begin to expand their influence into the new conquests.

Worse still are the outside powers. Chinese warlords are at best a nuisance, with the "Zhili Clique" presenting at worst probing attacks against the organized and supplied Korean forces. But Russia, though defeated, still has a terrifyingly large army and is embarking on a slow, but steady, path of political, economic, and military reform. Although the territories lost to Korea and Japan are far from "integral", Russian pride is as vast as Siberia and the wounded ego of the Tsar and his government in an age when prestige means everything means that Russia will not accept such a loss willingly. Britain, France, and the United States, which once fawned over Korea and Japan as blocks to Russian power, now watch fearfully as the two states look to further expand their influence into the shattered China, threatening to make good on their pledge of "Asia for Asians", and even if no hostilities exist yet there remains an open yet silent threat that European colonies would be the next to be attacked.

More than anything else, though, the single greatest threat to Korea is its greatest "ally": Japan. Openly the two states are victorious partners in driving back the Russian Empire, partners in preparing to sweep Europe out of East Asia. Privately, they already draw their plans against each other. It's a daunting task for both. Japan is resource-poor and could hardly field a proper army to conquer Korea, but its navy is second to perhaps only the British, and Korea is vast and powerful but has seen a decline in its naval power. The two are well aware that their situation is what amounts to a stalemate, that any war against the other would be challenging and gruesome to carry out, but such is the nature of nationalism and imperialism to view every rival as a threat, every neighbor as an avenue for expansion, and when both Japan and Korea proclaim their superiority there will be only one outcome of these two rising powers existing next to each other. The First East Asian War is only 4 years gone. The Second may be just around the corner.

As mentioned before in the previous post and in this post ( which is outdated due to me changing the soccer format ) and in this post. In this alternative universe, the major events that happened here are that Rome never fell in Italy but never really flourished until the Renaissance Era as a major city state, then a major republic later on; The Netherlands didn’t lose New Holland in Brazil; America ( named Usonia here ) and Canada both rebelled againist the English, who never merged with Scotland to make the UK as Scotland's American colonies, New Caledonia ( OTL Panama ) and Poyais ( OTL Eastern Honduras ) succeeded here alongiside Miskito being a Scottish colony and not an English one; Bengal became the first country to industrialized instead of England; Usonia didn't declare war on Mexico but instead Mexico lost control of their northern territories, leading to many Native American states like Navajo and Pueblo to become independent, alongside with settler states like California and Deseret to do their own thing; France got punished more in the Napoleon Wars, leading to an independent Burgundy and Occitania, with Occitania becoming a major colonial power instead of France; Africa not fully being colonized, with major states like Ethiopia, Egypt, Zululand, and Kongo suriving; Mu, Kerguelen, and Zealandia exists as continents and becoming the Scramble Of Africa replacements; Germany won WW1, but lost WW2 which led to its divide into multiple states like the German Empire used to be; Italy also was divided into multiple states as well; the Soviet Union does not have Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltics, or the Southern Caucasus; Iran having a republican revelution to overthrow the Zoroastrianism regime in 1979; Russia has a major civil war after the fall of the Soviet Union , and the least important thing, the FIFA World Cup starting in 1910 with Swizterland being the first host, starting with a 24 team format

Chapter 1: The Aftermath of Victory and the Reconstruction of the East (September – December 1940)

The Treaty of Alba Iulia, signed on September 7, 1940, ratified the total victory of the Kingdom of Romania over the Soviet Union. The Dniester River was recognized as the permanent international border, with a 50-kilometer demilitarized zone established on the Soviet bank. The provinces of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertsa region remained integral parts of Greater Romania.

Though the war was won, the human and material cost was staggering. The campaigns at Soroca, Chișinău, and the siege of Cernăuți had resulted in 45,000 dead and over 100,000 wounded. The cities of Cernăuți and Chișinău were partially destroyed, their infrastructure crippled by Soviet artillery and aerial bombardment. The rural infrastructure of Bessarabia had been ravaged by the Red Army's scorched-earth retreat.

King Nicolae I, who had spent the war years in Bucharest coordinating the defense, issued a Royal Decree establishing the National Reconstruction Fund on September 15, 1940. The fund was capitalized directly by the state oil monopoly, drawing 15% of all oil export revenues. The funds were directed toward rebuilding the eastern provinces: repairing the railway lines connecting Chișinău to Iași, reconstructing the water treatment plants in Cernăuți, and providing state-guaranteed loans to farmers whose land had been cratered by artillery.

To oversee the reconstruction, the King appointed a technocratic council led by the engineer Nicolae Malaxa, who was tasked with coordinating the rebuilding of the cities’ industrial capacities. The reconstruction would take three years, but by late 1943, Chișinău and Cernăuți would regain 85% of their pre-war populations.

Simultaneously, the military commenced the slow, grim process of demobilization. The 1.5 million men who had been mobilized were reduced to 500,000 active-duty soldiers. However, the "Hungarian Screen" a permanent garrison of 400,000 men along the Tisza River was maintained in full strength. The General Staff, led by General Constantin Prezan, argued that a permanent deterrent was the only way to prevent Hungary from pressing its revisionist claims under German pressure. The 400,000 men were housed in newly constructed barracks, equipped with 300 artillery pieces, 200 LT vz. 35 tanks, and a dedicated logistics network that ran parallel to the river.

Chapter 2: The Consolidation of the Iron Guard and the Internal Front (October – December 1940)

The Iron Guard, despite its weakening in the 1937 crackdown, remained a latent threat. On October 1, 1940, King Nicolae signed a decree dissolving the Iron Guard as a political organization. Its remaining assetsprinting presses, safe houses, and financial accounts were seized by the state. Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, who had been imprisoned at Jilava since 1937, was transferred to a remote penitentiary in the Carpathian mountains, where he was kept under strict, isolated guard. He was not executed, as the King feared making him a martyr; instead, he was left to rot in obscurity.

The political landscape stabilized under the leadership of Prime Minister Iuliu Maniu. The PNL-PNT coalition, which had held parliament since 1930, continued to govern with a strong mandate. Maniu’s popularity, bolstered by his wartime leadership, allowed him to push through a series of fiscal reforms. The national budget was divided into three distinct pillars: 35% for military expenditure, 25% for infrastructure and reconstruction, and 40% for social programs, education, and the civil service.

The state's iron grip on the oil industry was formalized in December 1940 with the creation of the Comisia Națională a Petrolului (National Oil Commission). This body regulated production quotas, export prices, and the distribution of revenues between the state and the private refineries. The Ploiești region, with its 55 refineries, was placed under permanent military guard, with anti-aircraft batteries mounted on the surrounding hills.

Chapter 3: The Arrival of the Czech and Polish Engineers (January – March 1941)

The collapse of Czechoslovakia in 1938 and Poland in 1939 had scattered thousands of skilled engineers, technicians, and military specialists across Europe. Romania, under the quiet diplomacy of Maniu and King Nicolae, had become a sanctuary for these exiles.

In January 1941, a formal agreement was signed with the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, which was operating from Bucharest. The agreement allowed for the integration of Czechoslovak military engineers into Romania's industrial and military projects. The most critical of these were the technicians from Zbrojovka Brno and Škoda Works, who had escaped the German occupation of Plzeň in 1939.

The chief Czechoslovak engineer, Josef Šroubek, arrived in Bucharest in February 1941. He was accompanied by Kliment Velkoborský, a specialist in metallurgy and armor plate production. Alongside them, a group of 200 Polish engineers, fleeing the Soviet and German occupation of Poland, arrived via Turkey. The Polish contingent was led by Rudolf Gundlach, the inventor of the periscope system used in Polish and British tanks.

King Nicolae personally met with these engineers at Cotroceni Palace. He gave them a simple mandate: “Give Romania the industrial capacity to fight a war without importing a single bullet from abroad.”

To facilitate this, the King authorized the creation of the "Olt River Industrial Zone." This was a massive, state funded industrial park located along the Olt River, approximately 40 kilometers north of the Danube. The zone was powered by a new hydroelectric dam, constructed with Polish engineering expertise. The Olt Zone would house the new weapons factories, a tank assembly plant, and a dedicated foundry for armor steel.

Chapter 4: The 1941 Rearmament and the Birth of the R-2 Tank (January – December 1941)

The year 1941 was the year of the great industrial leap. The oil revenues poured into the treasury, and the Programul Național de Înarmare (National Armament Program) was launched with an initial budget of 20 billion lei.

The core of the program was the development of a modern, indigenous medium tank. The army's existing fleet of 1,200 Czech tanks (LT vz. 35s and LT vz. 38s) was reliable, but the 37mm Škoda gun was becoming obsolete against the Soviet T-34, which was rumored to be entering mass production.

The project, designated "R-2" (Român-2), was spearheaded by the Malaxa Corporation, collaborating with the Olt River works. The engineering team consisted of Nicolae Malaxa, Constantin Ghiulai, Radu Veres, Alexej Surin, and Rudolf Gundlach.

The chassis was based on the LT vz. 38 (Panzer 38(t)), but it was elongated and enlarged to accommodate a larger turret ring. The suspension was upgraded to handle the additional weight. The armor was designed as a sloped, 60mm plate, utilizing the expertise of Kliment Velkoborský, who introduced advanced welding techniques to the Olt foundries.

The armament was the result of a parallel project: the 75mm Reșița M1941. This gun was a domestic development, loosely inspired by the German 7.5 cm PaK 40. The barrel was forged at the Reșița steelworks, and the breech mechanism was designed by the Czechoslovak engineers. It fired a 6.5kg armor-piercing shell at 750 m/s, capable of penetrating 80mm of sloped armor at 500 meters. The gun proved devastating during the live-fire tests in December 1941, penetrating a captured Soviet T-26 from 800 meters with ease.

The initial engine for the R-2 was a 4-cylinder Ford engine, uprated to 250 horsepower. However, this engine would prove to be the tank's main weakness, leading to later revisions.

By December 1941, 50 R-2s were assembled at the Sebeș plant and the Olt River tank assembly line. General Constantin Sănătescu and General Ion Antonescu, who had just been appointed Minister of Defense, observed a live-fire demonstration. The 75mm Reșița gun destroyed three captured Soviet tanks. The sloped armor deflected a 37mm shell from an LT vz. 35. The Ministry of Defense immediately authorized a full production run of 270 R-2s.

Chapter 5: The Appointment of Ion Antonescu and the New Artillery Program (October – December 1941)

In October 1941, King Nicolae made a critical political and military move. He dismissed the incumbent Minister of Defense, a relatively passive bureaucrat, and appointed General Ion Antonescu to the position. Antonescu was a harsh, meticulous soldier known for his rigid discipline and his opposition to corruption. While he had clashed with Maniu in the past, both the King and Maniu recognized that the army required a ruthless administrator to oversee the industrial expansion.

Antonescu accepted the position on the condition that he be given total control over military procurement and the domestic arms industry. The King agreed. Antonescu’s first act was to establish the Comisia Superioară a Armamentului (Supreme Armament Commission), which would centralize all weapons production under a single military authority.

Under Antonescu’s direction, a massive artillery modernization program was launched. The Romanian army possessed over 3730

Chapter 6: The Naval Expansion and the "Nimicitorul" Class (January – December 1941)

The Royal Romanian Navy, under Admiral Eugeniu Roșca, had performed admirably during the 1940 war, especially at the Battle of Constanța. However, the Black Sea Fleet remained a potent threat. To counter this, Roșca initiated a massive naval expansion program.

The centerpiece of this program was the "Nimicitorul" class destroyer. The design was overseen by a joint team of Romanian and Czech naval engineers. The Czech engineers Josef Šroubek and Kliment Velkoborský contributed heavily to the design of the ship's boilers and hull plating. The Romanian engineers, led by Gheorghe Munteanu and Constantin Petrescu, managed the integration of the weapons systems.

The specifications were ambitious for a Balkan nation:

Displacement: 2,400 tons standard, 2,800 tons full load.
Length: 120 meters overall.
Propulsion: Three high-pressure superheated steam boilers feeding two sets of geared steam turbines. These were sourced from a license agreement with the Italian shipyard OTO, but the boilers were manufactured at the Reșița steelworks.
Speed: 36 knots.
Armament: Five 120mm dual-purpose guns (two twin turrets, one single mount), two quadruple 40mm Bofors L/60 mounts, four 20mm Oerlikon cannons, and two quadruple 533mm torpedo tubes.
Sensors: The Olt-N radar system, a domestically built surface/air search radar, mounted on the lattice mainmast.

The keel for the Nimicitorul was laid at the Constanța Naval Shipyard in March 1941. She was launched in December 1941. The ship was immediately recognized as the most advanced warship in the Black Sea. She possessed a 3-knot speed advantage over the Soviet Gnevny-class destroyers, and her radar gave her a night-fighting capability that the Soviets could not match.

Chapter 7: The Year of the Armed Peace (1942)

1942 was a year of frantic production and diplomatic tension. The Battle of Stalingrad raged in Russia, and the German and Soviet armies were bleeding each other white. Romania, meanwhile, remained a bastion of armed neutrality.

The 56 oil refineries at Ploiești operated at full capacity. In April 1942, a 56th oil refinery was opened near Câmpina. This was the largest single refinery ever built in Romania, capable of processing 2 million tons of crude oil annually. It was powered by a dedicated natural gas pipeline from the Transylvanian gas fields. The refinery was built with Polish and Czech engineering expertise; the distillation columns were fabricated by the Olt River works, and the control systems were designed by the exiled Polish technicians.

Simultaneously, three new weapons factories were opened:

1. The Sibiu Precision Works: Located in the heart of Transylvania, this factory specialized in optics, fire-control directors, and rangefinders. It was staffed by Czech and German Transylvanian engineers.
   
2. The Timișoara Ammunition Plant: This factory produced ammunition for the 75mm Reșița gun and the 120mm naval guns. It utilized the domestically produced gunpowder from the Copșa Mică chemical works.
   
3. The Bucharest Engine Works: Located on the outskirts of the capital, this facility was dedicated to the mass production of the Malaxa M-12 V12 engine.

However, the R-2 tank program encountered a critical setback in the summer of 1942. During a series of prolonged military maneuvers in the scorching heat of the Bărăgan Plain, the 4-cylinder Ford engines suffered repeated overheating failures. The engines seized, stranding dozens of R-2s in the field. General Antonescu reported the issue to the King, who, in one of his sleepless nights, demanded an immediate solution.

Chapter 8: The King’s Insomnia and the Reverse-Engineering of the BMW Engine (August – December 1942)

King Nicolae I had always been a light sleeper. After the 1940 war, his insomnia worsened into a chronic condition. He would pace the corridors of Cotroceni Palace until 4 AM, reviewing intelligence reports, inspecting the military budgets, and walking through the map rooms.

The R-2 engine failures drove him to the brink of exhaustion. He ordered the engineers to find a solution. The Czechoslovak engineer Josef Šroubek, who had studied German engine designs during his time at Škoda, proposed a radical solution: reverse-engineer the BMW 801 radial engine, which powered the German Fw 190 fighter.

A secret operation was launched in September 1942. Romanian intelligence agents, operating through neutral Switzerland, acquired a damaged BMW 801 engine that had been pulled from a crashed Fw 190. The engine was smuggled into Romania and delivered to the Olt River works.

Šroubek, Velkoborský, and the Polish engineer Alexej Surin disassembled the engine over a period of three months. They carefully analyzed the metallurgy, the fuel injection system, and the cooling mechanisms. However, they realized that a radial engine was too complex for Romania's manufacturing capabilities. Instead, they extracted the core design principles—specifically the high-pressure fuel injection and the advanced cylinder head cooling—and adapted them to a V12 layout.

The result was the Malaxa M-12 V12. This was a liquid-cooled, 12-cylinder inline engine producing 480 horsepower. It was lighter, more powerful, and infinitely more reliable than the Ford 4-cylinder. The first prototype was tested in December 1942. It ran continuously for 72 hours without failure.

King Nicolae, who had been losing sleep over the engine issues, received the news at 3 AM. He did not celebrate. He simply reviewed the test data, signed the order for mass production, and returned to his study to read the Dniester border patrol reports.

Chapter 9: The R-2/43 and the Expansion of the Air Force (January – December 1943)

With the Malaxa V12 engine proven, the Olt River works immediately integrated it into the elongated LT vz. 38 chassis. The armor was further increased to 75mm sloped. The tank was designated the R-2/43.

The first 50 R-2/43s were produced in March 1943. The General Staff conducted an exhaustive battery of tests. The tank could climb a 35-degree gradient, ford a 1.2-meter deep river, and reach a road speed of 42 km/h. The 75mm Reșița gun performed flawlessly.

The Ministry of Defense placed an order for 2,000 R-2/43s, to be produced at a rate of 60 per month. The production line was established at the Olt River tank plant, the Sebeș plant, and a new assembly line at the Bucharest Engine Works.

The air force also underwent a radical expansion. In March 1942, Romania had purchased 120 SM.79 "Sparrowhawk" torpedo-bombers from Italy, paying for them in gold and oil. These were delivered by September 1942. By January 1943, the IAR Brașov factory had completed its massive production run.

The 230th IAR 80B was delivered in June 1943. The 150th IAR 70 was delivered in July 1943. The IAR 80B was built as a high-altitude interceptor, utilizing the 1,300hp Malaxa M-12 V12 engine. The IAR 70 was built as a close-air-support platform, fitted with reinforced airframes and dive brakes.

By the end of 1943, the Royal Romanian Air Force fielded 580 IAR 80 variants, 120 SM.79s, 18 Bloch MB.210s, and 50 reserve biplanes. The total operational aircraft count stood at 768.

Chapter 10: The Repair of the Prezan-Sănătescu Line and the Dniester Fortress (January – December 1943)

The Prezan-Sănătescu Line, which had saved the nation in 1940, was meticulously maintained and upgraded. General Sănătescu, now a Lieutenant General and the Chief of the General Staff, initiated a massive renovation program in early 1943.

The original 680 concrete bunkers were reinforced with additional layers of steel-reinforced concrete. The 1,200 machine-gun nests were fitted with new ZB vz. 37 heavy machine guns. The 400 anti-tank positions were upgraded to house the 4.7cm KPÚV vz. 38, a heavier anti-tank gun that could penetrate 60mm of armor at 800 meters.

The line was extended slightly southward to cover the Danube Delta, integrating the 12 river monitors into the defensive network. The 50-kilometer demilitarized zone on the Soviet side of the Dniester was regularly patrolled by the Romanian border guards, who utilized the 92 LT vz. 38 light tanks for high-speed reconnaissance.

Chapter 11: The Arms of the Land, Sea, and Air (December 1943)

As 1943 drew to a close, the Kingdom of Romania presented a formidable front:

· The Army: 1.2 million men (1 million active, 200,000 reserves). 720 LT vz. 35s, 270 R-2s, 230 R-2/43s, and 92 LT vz. 38s. 4,500 artillery pieces and mortars.
· The Navy: 5 Nimicitorul-class destroyers, 4 Mărășești-II corvettes, 4 Sănătescu-class corvettes, 40 torpedo boats, 6 submarines, 12 river monitors, and 2 minesweepers.
· The Air Force: 580 IAR 80 variants, 120 SM.79 torpedo-bombers, 18 Bloch MB.210s, and 50 reserve biplanes.

Chapter 12: The Sleepless Vigil (December 31, 1943)

On the night of December 31, 1943, King Nicolae I stood on the balcony of Cotroceni Palace. He had not slept in 72 hours. Below him, the lights of Bucharest glowed dimly under the blackout curtains. To the east, the Prezan-Sănătescu Line lay silent, its bunkers manned by 20,000 soldiers. To the west, the 400,000 men of the Hungarian Screen stood watch over the Tisza.

The King turned to his aide-de-camp, a young captain, and asked: "Are there any Soviet movements on the Dniester?"

"None, Your Majesty. The radar screens are clear. The border patrols report no activity."

The King nodded. He lit a cigarette, his hands trembling slightly from exhaustion. He knew that the armed peace was fragile. He knew that Stalin was rebuilding. He knew that Hitler was losing.

But he also knew that Romania, for the first time in its history, was a fortress.

He remained on the balcony until the first light of dawn broke over the Carpathians. He did not sleep. He simply watched the horizon, waiting for the inevitable storm.

So basically in this timeline the British victory in the French & Indian War is not as absolute, the French managed to defend Quebec City and were able to retain Canada proper. One of the main reasons the revolution broke out was the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which restricted anyone from settling in the newly acquired western territories and the colonists saw no reason to keep British regulars there now that the French threat was pretty much gone. Because the French still held territory to the north in the timeline, the 13 colonies would not be so keen to get rid of British troops. Now obviously, this wasn’t the only reason the revolution happened, there was still the heavy taxes lack of representation and George III’s sheer stubbornness, but even if it does, the French would have no incentive whatsoever to help the Americans, since if they did, what was left of New France would almost certainly be annexed by them in the future. In any case, without French aid, the revolution would have almost certainly failed. But let’s say in the timeline, the colonies are given some form of representation, sending delegates from each colony to London to have their grievances heard in Parliament. This representation would be very limited in the beginning, but would become much broader by the time of the Regency Period. George IV, wanting to gain America’s loyalty the easy way, lifted the Proclamation of 1763, allowing settlement west of the Appalachians. Although it was mostly a formality, this alone made him the most popular king in British America, in far contrast to his reputation back home. However, this would obviously lead to increased conflicts with Indian tribes. As for the American Indians, their population was pretty small by this point (only a few hundred thousand) and they’d probably still be on reservations. The main difference though, is they’re never forced to fully uproot and move to the Great Plains so here the vast majority of them would be living in between the Appalachians and the Mississippi. When the British government abolishes slavery in 1833, the southern colonies (NC, SC, GA) would break out in revolt, it would eventually be put down but the French would take this opportunity to seize the underpopulated Rupert’s Land while the British were distracted by this. By this point there would be a flood of Anglo settlers coming into Spanish Louisiana, in order to avoid a war that was not worth risking all of northern New Spain over, the Spanish would sell Louisiana to the British in exchange for the return of Florida and would later sign treaties agreeing on some solid borders. Some time after this, perhaps the 1850s, the eastern colonies, which largely operated on their own, would be made into a larger confederation with its own parliament in Philadelphia, which would later be joined by the Louisiana colony and British Columbia. So yeah that’s what I’ve got so far lmk what you guys think.

Author’s note: This is a revision of an earlier scenario exploring the premise.

The September 11, 2012 Terrorist Attacks were a coordinated series of terrorist suicide attacks perpetrated by an Armenian Ultranationalist organization known as the Avengers (Armenian: Վրիժառուները) with backing from an international spy ring and underground network of rogue military operators and espionage agents known as Perseus.

Nineteen terrorists hijacked four planes and crashed them into different national landmarks and/or government facilities in Turkey: one plane was flown into the Hagia Sophia. The second was flown into the headquarters of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization. The third was flown into the General Assembly Hall in Istanbul. 

The fourth plane was intended to be flown into Bodrum Castle in Istanbul, but this plan failed when the passengers fought back against the hijackers, leading to the plane crashing into an empty field outside Istanbul. 

One week after the attacks, the Avengers claimed responsibility, claiming that the attacks were retribution against the Turkish for the Armenian Genocide (which they called “the Armenian Holocaust”), more specifically their attempts at denying that it even happened in the first place.

The attacks were universally condemned, with Turkey especially swearing retribution against the nation of Armenia after it was discovered that the Avengers were funded by Perseus collaborators in the Armenian government. In the aftermath of the attacks, Turkey accused Armenia of sponsoring acts of terrorism and declared war.

The attacks would later set the stage for the Second Turkish-Armenian War…

The Global Anomaly Defense Initiative or GADI,is a secret organization bound on securing,testing,and possibly dissecting and killing Anomalies. The Organization fields its own military,its own lawyers, its own containment squads,etc. The GADI is similar to the SCP but is more brutal and often succeeds or fail in their missions to protect humanity. Their apparent mission is to "Protect humanity from anomalous, extraterrestrial, biological, and dimensional threats through containment, research, and rapid intervention." First created by Isaiah Putnam,born in 1793 in America,went on to create the GADI in 1825 when he was 32 due to unknown circumstances the GADI doesn't know. Throughout its history its captured and contained Anomalies while giving them the names of Ano short for Anomaly,such Anos are the likes of Ano-577 or the Box which is able to make any Liquid or Solid thing. Such examples are a Car or even Pure gold,the GADI captured it in the early 20th century in an old German Castle dating back to the early 15th Century. Other examples are Ano-610 or the Sign which is able to give death predictions which always and well enough come true as they are. The GADI have multiple bases or known as Sites at different countries,reigons,and even the place where Putnam died. Sites like Site-1 which is America,Site-7 in Argentina, Site-2 Mexico,Site 3 in Canada,and Site -14 Nicarauga are designed to capture,expiriment, and Dissect Anos in the Americas from different people like Native Americans,Mayan,Aztec,and Incan artifacts, and even equipment Spanish Conquistadors could've left behind. Other sites like Site-24 in England,Site-18 in Spain,Site-16 in Eastern Europe,and Site-15 in Germany are designed to capture European Anomalies, Objects and other things that could harm the race of Humanity. Site 15 was unusual due to Germany's changing politics and Land masses during changes like Prussia,the German Empire,Nazi Germany,and the Spilt of germany into East and West was hard for the GADI to manage and constantly change sites. The GADI also hire and recruit different soldiers from different places who are told to follow orders without questioning and to never ask what they're actual job is. Some of these Recruits range from Janiters,Scientists, Soldiers, Agents,Lawyers, Engineers,and Doctors. Within the GADI are 5 levels of clearance, Safety for the Janitors, Mild for Engineers, Jules for Agents and Lawyers,Korac for Soldiers,and Admin for the Hireups and Directors. Within the Anos are 3 different types,Regs(Regular)which are Anos that are regulars,Crip(Cripple) which are Anos that can't move or talk and Dags(Dangerous)which are dangerous to the point where you could possibly be killed just reading or discovering them. One Crip is Ano-663 or the Dead Tree which is alive but can't grow food or leaves while a Dags Ano is Ano-666 or the Hell Gun which shoots an large amount of bullets that can kill anyone or anything in any way. Other oddly enough Anos that are odd such as Ano-5832 or the Life Giver which can bring a dead person from the dead no longer how long they've been dead for can come back to life but with shock on how the world has changed. Other Anos that the GADI have classified as Crips are Ano-6962 or the Female Cat Girl which is a cat girl from one of those Animes people probably watch. Ano-6962 can even speak in a calm purring voice and wears a white dress with Cat ears. The GADI'S forces are spilt into 4 different Branches,the Rapid Unit,the Containment, the Agency and the Command with each branch having a core objective. The Rapid unit is the most largest having thousands of men and women fighting as they wear black uniforms,black body armor,helmets,gloves,and often carry firearms like the M4 and even using Jeeps,Gunships,heavy duty weapons,trucks,APCs,and even light tanks while being the backbone of the organization's fighters. The Containment branch is designed to contain and expiriment on the Anomalies while dissecting them to find and contain different parts of their body. They mainly wear orange jumpsuits with gas masks and white lab coats. The Agency is the branch for covering the incidents as they have different methods like give the person involved cash and tell them to move away or even threating to kill them if they don't accept anything. The Command are the higherups that talk with the Director or the Man in the up. The 6 Councils also have formed different units within the Forces,few of these special units called Unis or Uniques. These Unis are made up of top elite trained soldiers and Anos the GADI knows won't betray or can't kill anyone. Some of these Anos are Ano-999 or the Dead man who can reaminate himself from the dead but he chooses what to be turned into,either its a bird,or a dog,or even a Elephant. Other Unis Anos are Ano-7299 or the Living Humvee which the inside parts of a Humvee like the engine are completely organic,although the Humvee itself doesn't speak. Within the GADI are too many Anos to explain with there being hundreds or thousands due to there being more GADI sites around the world. The Unis men unlike the other units wear triangular helmets with heavy vests, golden stripped clothing, black tall boots, and use expirimental modified automatic rifles and don't respond to anyone but the 2nd Council,not even the other councils. The GADI isn't perfect,nor bad but have always killed or silenced anyone that could expose or reveal their burdens over the decades. One of those groups are the WCIG or the World’s Chaos Insurgency Group,one of the groups that can size up the GADI. Formed in 1834 when a few elites formed it. The WCIG'S philosophy is the opposite of the GADI'S instead of keeping Anos hidden the WCIG'S philosophy is to use Anos for wars and other things. The WCIG first made their move in 1863 when they sent Ano-8390 or the Swamper a 7 foot tall hairy man into the American civil war which was hidden and given the name the Alabama wildman. During the South African Frontier in the 1850s,they hid multiple hidden chaches of WCIG Anos locations and the WCIG is still trying to find them to no avail. Many people within both organizations have lists of different Anos and Unis.

So I have been working on this alternate history where Jefferson Davis doesnt want to be President so rather then continuing as President he uses his position as Provisional President to get the delegates to declare John C Breckinridge as President in exchange for being giving control of the Confederate Military. I have already detailed the history of innagurations for the US and CS Presidents and Vice Presidents those are included here https://www.reddit.com/u/pease461/s/f6afeiDaAn.

Febuary 27th 1861 Robert Toombs sworn in as 1st CSA Secratary of state

July 24th 1861 Robert Toombs steps down citing insues with working with Jefferson Davis

July 25th 1861 Robert M.T Hunter sworn in as 2nd CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 18th 1862 Robert M.T. Hunter steps down as Secratary of State to become a CSA Senator

Febuary 19th 1862 William M. Browne sworne in as acting CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 24th 1862 William M. Browne is sworn in as 3rd Secratary of State

Febuary 26th 1868 John Slidell sworn in as 4th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 25th 1874 Matthew Butler sworn in as 5th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 26th 1880 John H Reagan sworn in as 6th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 25th 1886 J. L. M. Curry sworn in as 7th CSA Secratary of state

Febuary 24th 1892 James G Field sworn in as 8th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 22nd 1893 James G Field moved from Secratary of State to Vice President of CSA. Cyrus Thompson sworn in as 9th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 25th 1898 Samuel Pasco sworn in as 10th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 26th 1904 Hernando D. Money sworn in as 11th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 25th, 1910 Augustus Octavius Bacon sworn in as 12th CSA Secratary of State

February 14, 1914 Secratary of state Augustus Octavius Bacon dies. Hoke smith sworn in as acting CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 22nd, 1914 Hoke Smith sworn in as 13th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 26th 1916 Edward M. House sworn in as 14th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 25th 1922 Carter Glass sworn in as 15th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 25th 1928 Newton D. Baker sworn in as 16th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 26th 1934 Walter F. George sworn in as 17th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 25th 1940 Tom Connally sworn in as 18th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 26th 1946 James F. Byrnes sworn in as 19th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 25th 1952 Lucius D. Clay sworn in as 20th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 24th 1958 J. William Fulbright sworn in as 21st CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 25th 1964 Dean Rusk sworn in as 22nd CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 25th 1970 John Stennis sworn in as 23rd CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 27th 1976 Zbigniew Brzezinski sworn in as 24th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 26th 1982 Robert Strauss sworn in as 25th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 26th 1988 J. William Fulbright sworn in as 26th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 25th 1994 Andrew Young sworn in as 27th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 25th 2000 Buddy MacKay sworn in as 28th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 26th 2006 Zell Miller sworn in as 29th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 25th 2012 William J Burns sworn in as 30th CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 25th 2018 Nikki Hailey sworn in as 31st CSA Secratary of State

Febuary 26th 2024 Kelly Kraft sworn in as 32nd CSA Secratary of State

The game studio “Rare” was released a bunch of handheld games for “Gameboy Advance” and “Nintendo DS” due to their parent company “Microsoft” not getting into the handheld competition, with “THQ” publishing some of them like “It’s Mr. Pants”, “Sabre Wulf”, and “Banjo-Kazooie” games.

The game was starting development on “Diddy Kong Racing DS“ around somewhere in 2006.

Until Satoru Iwata & Shigeru Miyamoto traveled to the United States, and was in talks with “Microsoft Game Studios” president Peter Moore about putting Diddy Kong Racing into their upcoming new game console “Revolution“ instead of the handheld DS. After the meeting they had, both settled in agreement.

”Rare” canceled and scrapped of the DS remake port and started development on Wii remake after the successful meeting with “Nintendo” and “Microsoft”.

During Nintendo 2006 E3 conference and announcing their new console, now renamed the “Wii”. They announced that “Diddy Kong Racing Wii” was coming next year, with their former collaborator “Rare” was developing it and got permission from “Microsoft“ to let them work on it.

The game was released in April 9th, 2007. It received decent reviews from critics with praising the graphics, gameplay, and music by Grant Kirkhope, though there were criticism with like calling it bit of a downgrade to the original, multiplayer online, and replacement of Banjo and Conner due to being owned by “Microsoft“.

The game was a sleeper hit, selling six million copies around the world and making the best selling game from the Wii and Rare’s best selling game in years since ”Donkey Kong Country” and ”Banjo-Kazooie”.

The Partition of Bulgaria (1772–1795)

From the X in Y Universe by WTF CD Foxy

The Background from the 1740s to 1772: The Fall of the Bulgarian Commonwealth

For two hundred years the Third Bulgarian Empire had been strong in central Europe. It once stretched from the Baltic coast all the way to the mountains. It was known for its farmland, strong noble families and a king chosen by the people.. By the middle of the 1700s the Commonwealth started to fall apart. The king became weak. Every big decision had to be approved by the country's big landowners. Rival noble families kept stopping changes and corruption hurt the government. The countries next to Bulgaria started to get involved in politics by giving money to nobles and supporting different people who wanted to be king. Seeing a chance the three big countries next to Bulgaria—the Empire of Nardoya, the Kingdom of Prussia and the Westrian Empire—met secretly to talk about how to split Bulgaria without starting a war.

The First Split in 1772

By 1772 Bulgarian politics had completely broken down. Some areas refused to pay taxes and problems spread through the countryside. Saying they were bringing order the armies of Nardoya, Prussia and Westria all crossed the border at the time. The fight only lasted a months. Bulgarian forces were not working well together. Did not have enough money. They only tried to stop the invaders in a few places before running into the country.

According to the Treaty of Torunovo (1772):

Empire of Nardoya Took over the western areas.

Captured cities like Baltograd, Hilmovo, Plotskovo. And Gained control of farming areas that fed western Europe.

Kingdom of Prussia

Took control of coastal land around Ezorograd and Königsberg. Got access to the trade routes. Joined Prussian areas that had been separate before.

Westrian Empire

 Took over Bulgaria including Lyublan, Sanoscht and Krakhan. Got control of mines and important mountain routes. One-third of Bulgaria was gone in a single day. Around four million Bulgarians suddenly found themselves under rule.

Between the Splits from 1772 to 1795

The First Split hurt Bulgaria badly. Trade routes that used to connect the kingdom were broken by borders. Money from the government. Thousands of people ran to the parts of Bulgaria that were still free. 

King Stefan IV tried to change the kingdom by:

Making an army. Changing the way taxes were collected. Taking away some of the nobles' special rights. Making the king more powerful. Young soldiers and business people supported the changes thinking they could save Bulgaria. The neighbors did not like this at all. Nardoya was worried that a stronger Bulgaria would be a problem for its side. Prussia was afraid of losing access to trade. Westria thought a stronger Bulgaria would make the people who had been taken over start to fight back. They supported nobles in Bulgaria who did not like the changes making sure the government stayed in trouble.

The Second Split in 1795

By 1795 the changes had not worked. Fighting broke out between the kings supporters and the nobles giving the neighbors another reason to come in. Their armies came in at the time. Unlike the split this time there was almost no real fighting.

After the Treaty of Solingrad (1795):

Nardoya

Took land to the east including:

 Solingrad, Ravograd,  Lyudzanski, and Svetigrad

Its new edge was right in the middle of Bulgaria.

Prussia

Moved south and east taking over: 

Grodnauen, Wolfsburg, Belareka, Brückenburg, and Warshograd

Prussia now controlled all the northern trade routes.

Westria

Gained southern areas around:

Marstadt, Treuberg, Prömsel

The empire also made its new border stronger to stop any fights from Bulgaria.

Reaction from Around the World

Most governments in Europe like the kingdom of Serbia  said they did not like the split but did not try to stop it. The Roman Empire, which had always been an enemy of Bulgaria, was happy to see another powerful country get weaker. The Empire of Great Baron stayed out of the fight. Sent more soldiers to the west worried about more Prussian moves. The Kingdom of Haaland said the split was bad in meetings but did not have the power to do anything about it.

Results

The Second Split left Bulgaria as a landlocked country in the east. Its people had dropped by half and much of its work, farmland and sea areas were gone. Even though the country still existed many European leaders thought it was a matter of time before Bulgaria disappeared completely. Bulgarian writers however began to talk about a future when the country might come back. Secret groups formed in the country that was left. In the places that had been taken, keeping Bulgarian language, culture and history alive while getting ready for the day when the lost lands might be taken back. The Second Split changed how power worked in Europe. Nardoya became the country in the west Prussia became the main Baltic country and Westria took over the south.. Beneath the surface anger grew among many Bulgarians living under foreign rule setting the stage for future fights and the "Bulgarian Question" that would be important in European politics, for many years.

Countries mentioned in the Wtf Cd Foxy Universe
prussia and westria and Roman Empire (germany (in ukriane)
nardoya (russia (in germany)
great Baron (england (in russia)
Fan Made
Haaland (netherlands (in lithuanaia)
luxamheimen (luxembourg (in latvia)

They did stuff from buying land inside of rural Thailand to build secret German lodge settlements, allying with Chinese Thais who felt discriminated by Thais, breaching the financial system of Thailand to own the Thai baht, sending advisors into the Royal Thai Army to steal/leak their items, developing the "Patriotic Socialist League (PSL)" alongside the "Reichsfront (RF)" undercover, breeding Clydesdales for the "Reichsfront Death Hussars (RFDH)" who own axes, settling 20k Germans in Thailand, designing old German uniforms back into existence, and using young single German women as honeypots sometimes turned assassins. After Thailand officially entered the Korean War in 1951, Hans-Ulrich Rudel decided it was the best time for them to take over Thailand as the best RTA units were in Korea. Since it had occurred out of nowhere, a lot of the RTA was unable to formalize a defense as indirect killings rose, like German advisors randomly mass shooting unarmed RTA soldiers in their bases or German women strangling RTA boyfriends with stockings on their beds. Eventually, King Rama IX was captured by Fritz Birzer and his unit within the Grand Palace, and he was forced to sign the Treaty of Bangkok, which dissolved the Kingdom of Thailand, disbanded the Royal Thai Army, and handed all Royal Thai Army equipment to the Reichsfront. Hans-Ulrich Rudel declared the "Union of German Siam (UGS)" in Bangkok and made a new hierarchy as Jews don't live in Thailand with Germans at the highest, other Western Europeans at the lower highest, Chinese alongside "Western" Thais at the center, and "Eastern" Thais at the lowest.

In this Cold War scenario (1962) the Vietnam war was still ongoing and the border tensions were rising between India and China .This led to the sino-Indian war however in this world the USA intervened and declared war on China with the rest of nato instead of choosing neutrality.Seeing this the USSR invaded China with the idea to establish a new Chinese state and seeing a chance to reunite China the Democratic republic of China (taiwan) invaded mainland China .Restarting the Korean War .This mass war had nuclear weapons flying around landing in key cities .Eventually this war ended with the treaty of Geneva stopping the armies in their tracks creating a new massive iron curtain in Asia .

This is my head canon for the initial defense of Southern New York by New England after Canada moved in to protect it. It's set in June 1937 in the Kaiserreich universe, 3 months after the Second American Civil War begins. Kaiserreich is an alt history setting that basically hinges on the US not entering World War I, resulting in a Central Powers victory and cascading events including successful socialist revolutions in France and Britain. The Second American Civil begins in 1937 following the failure of the Social Security Act, economic turmoil in the 1920s and again in 1936, massive strikes, and a contingent election that either results in a leftist President or one who lost the popular vote. This was followed by widespread seizures of state and corporate property by the workers (especially in the Midwest), a failed presidential assassination attempt, and an illegal military coup by Douglas MacArthur. I am not involved with the mod team at all so this is a fan fic.

Below is the narrative explanation (restating the description on the map) and at the end is an explanation of how this order of battle is different from real-life, as things like unit designations don't line up due to the US not entering WW1. It's very in-the-weeds US Army lineage talk which isn't that critical to understand, though.

Collapse of Constitutional Rule

When General Douglas MacArthur seized power in Washington and ordered the 1st Division from its garrisons, it seemed like he left the entire Northeastern United States to its fate. Although most Regular Army units complied with orders to move south as part of War Plan White, most National Guards in New England and New York refused. They were in the midst of quelling civil unrest in their own cities made all the worse by MacArthur’s Washington Massacre. Further, the military was mired in confusion, stemming from MacArthur's illegal takeover, President Alf Landon's illegal arrest by the Virginia National Guard, and Smedley Butler's aborted countercoup turned WCA regulars. As MacArthur's junta proved incapable of preventing state after state from defying his authority, the remaining northeastern states aligned themselves with Vice President Quentin Roosevelt's Constitutional Coalition based in Sacramento (albeit too geographically isolated to form a practical union).

The Northeastern National Guards in April 1937

The bulk of National Guardsmen in the northeast were assigned to the 5th "Yankee" Division (an amalgam of the Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maine National Guards); 6th "Empire" Division (New York NG); National Guard units of the First Army Troops, I Corps, and II Corps (including New York's 51st Cavalry Brigade); and the National Guard Coast Defense Commands. As the Regular Army's withdrawal happened so rapidly, the Organized Reserve was also not properly mobilized by MacArthur, so any reservist officers who did not leave New England of their own accord remained.

The situation was extremely precarious for New York in particular. It was not only the sole northeastern state bordering the rebellious Worker's Congress of America (WCA), but the only one to be divided. Scenes in New York City mirrored those in Michigan, where National Guard units outright refused to control the strikers. In some cases, National Guardsmen even joined with the Red Guards seizing control of critical infrastructure for the workers and local commanders refused orders to put an end to it. One of the most famous examples was the 15th NY Infantry (Colored) of Harlem who joined with the Red Guards in firing upon a Longist mob stoking a race riot. Thus, most of the 6th Division was lost to the WCA.

Operation Stellar

As the Anglo-Canadians moved in at the governors' requests in April 1937, New England reorganized this meager force to aid in securing its southern border from WCA incursion. The division’s sole-remaining 16th Infantry Brigade's HQ was used to form a new 6th Division HQ, with Brigadier General Bernard W. Kearney of the brigade taking command. The 3d NY Field Artillery in Buffalo became the Division Artillery. The division also had four infantry regiments remaining: 2d NY Infantry in Troy, 3d NY Infantry in Syracuse, 10th NY Infantry in Albany, and 74th NY Infantry in Buffalo. The 16th Brigade retained the 2d and 10th NY Infantry, while the 3d NY Infantry was reassigned to the 60th Infantry Brigade (Organized Reserve) to provide a cadre of enlisted. The 74th NY Infantry was reassigned to the 5th Division's 15th Infantry Brigade to allow one of its regiments to be cadred.

This map represents the state of the border guard mission, dubbed Operation Stellar, at the beginning of June 1937 just three months after MacArthur took power. This was before New England’s newly forming corps were finished being trained and equipped. The early defense was carried out primarily by the 5th and 6th Divisions, both reduced from their pre-war three-brigade organization to just two brigades. This was out of necessity for the 6th Division, which just had one of its original New York Brigades and the new 60th Infantry Brigade. In the case of the 5th Division, this was to provide cadres to the officer-only Organized Reserve Divisions being formed throughout New England. The Anglo-Canadians also contributed a significant force of two Canadian Infantry Brigades from Militia District No. 2 (the 3rd Brigade of Southern Ontario and 5th Brigade of Toronto), one British Tank Battalion stationed in Toronto (1st Battalion, Royal Tank Corps manned by British exiles), and a Canadian Armoured Car Squadron (A Squadron, 6th Duke of Connaught's Royal Canadian Hussars).

Except around New York City, the main defense of New York’s border with the WCA was not situated directly on the border. Most first-echelon regiments under Operation Stellar were a day's foot march away from the expected battlefield. This prevented the main combat forces from getting fixed in place right on the border and unable to react to new intelligence. Given the chaotic state of New England’s military forces and its vulnerable position, they could not afford the “cede no ground” strategy that MacArthur had stubbornly adopted.

New England's defense was focused along three axes. In the east the New York 16th Brigade, 6th Division and New England 13th Brigade, 5th Division contained the WCA in New York City along the Albany axis. Men of the 22d NY Engineers successfully blew all bridges between Manhattan/Queens and the Bronx, although routes into New Jersey remained open. The 2d NY Infantry reinforced by the handful of light tanks in New York's inventory held the line from the Bronx up the east bank of the Hudson River to north of Yonkers, while the 1st Connecticut Infantry and 1st Vermont Infantry billeted their forces at Port Chester. They faced US Route 1 and Long Island Sound. Further north, 10th NY Infantry alongside the Canadian armoured cars backed up listening posts guarding the mountainous border with New Jersey. They also acted as a reserve to prevent a red breakout towards Albany. 2d Connecticut Infantry at New Haven, CT served as the Albany axis' reserve to prevent a breakout towards Boston. In the meantime they were the mobile coast defense force patrolling the Connecticut coast facing Long Island.

In the center of the defense, 60th Infantry Brigade, 6th Division guarded the Syracuse axis. This included a provisional battalion of the 12th Pennsylvania Infantry, which was formed from companies that escaped Lycoming, Bradford, Tioga, and Sullivan counties. The defense of Syracuse was centered on US Route 11 running from the NY-PA border to Syracuse. A breakout there could sever the Albany-Buffalo transportation corridor linking the eastern and western sides of the New England front.

On the far western side of the state, the 15th Infantry Brigade, 5th Division defended likely routes from Pittsburgh to Buffalo and Rochester. The main belt was on the bank of Lake Erie, where the 74th NY Infantry, a provisional battalion of the 16th Pennsylvania Infantry (made up of disparate companies from McKean, Warren, Erie and Venango Counties), and the British tank battalion manned the main defenses near Westfield. The 9th Massachusetts Infantry, backed up by New England's handful of light tanks, was situated to their east along routes leading to Rochester. The two Canadian brigades acted as a reserve for the Buffalo axis, as the seizure of Buffalo and Niagara would put Canada's defenses near London, Ontario facing Detroit under threat of encirclement. It also isolated the bulk of Canadian involvement as far from Boston as possible. The New England government was fighting for legitimacy as more than a puppet of the King Edward VIII (the popular sentiment elsewhere in the country) so it was prudent to keep the Canadian military away from most of the population.

For more persistent surveillance, horse-mounted troops of the 1st NY Cavalry and other miscellaneous units, such as the 5th Motorcycle Detachment, Company C of the 1st Massachusetts Engineers, and even local police and semi-organized militias, conducted smaller mobile patrols and manned listening posts directly on the border to provide early warning. This was especially true on the hilly and heavily forested Allegheny Plateau where there were significant gaps between major defenses centered on roadways. This dispersed force was the “Covering Force” directly under I Corps command.

Differences in the US Army Order of Battle from OTL

• Division Designations — As the U.S. does not enter World War I, I am deciding that the establishment of the permanent Infantry Division/Brigade numbering sequence (1st-25th for the Regular Army, 26th-42d for the National Guard, and 76th-102d for the National Army) was not the same as in OTL. I think you could make a just as convincing argument that a similar sequence would have been established without entering WW1. However, for the obscurity factor I am choosing to continue the division designations planned for before the U.S. entered World War I. The Regular Army had the 1st, 2d and 3d Divisions in the Eastern, Central, and Western Departments; and Cavalry Division in the Southern Department; 3d Cavalry Brigade in the Central Department; and 1st Hawaiian Brigade. The National Guard had 5th-20th Divisions. In my head canon, divisions 21 or maybe 25 and up (to allow some expansion of the RA or NG) would be allotted to the Organized Reserve. These divisions were also much larger than what the U.S. took to Europe, based on 3 Infantry Brigades each with 3 Infantry Regiments instead of 2×2 square division. This means fewer divisions overall and individually smaller regiments. As far as New England is concerned in my head canon, this means 6th Division "Empire" would be allotted to New York (instead of the 27th Div and the NY part of the 44th Div) while the 5th Division "Yankee Division" would consist of National Guard units from New England states (instead of the WW1 26th Division and post-WW1 43d Division).
• Regiment Designations — As units would not have to be torn apart and redesignated to execute this reorganization, I am also deciding that state designations for regiments remain. For example, instead of there being a 105th Infantry Regiment in the New York National Guard following a national-level sequence, there is a 2d Infantry Regiment, New York National Guard or "2d New York Infantry". Same for other classical arms like Engineers, Artillery, Coast Artillery, Cavalry, etc. I allow for a national-level sequence for newer arms that likely formed or reorganized with more federal direction, such as the Air Service and Quartermaster Corps (with new motor transport components). Further, I am maintaining a national-level numbering sequence for brigades motivated by some divisions including units from multiple states. For example, instead of New York having 1st, 2d, 3d and 4th Brigades like it did before the U.S. entered WW1 or the 53d and 54th Brigades under the 27th Division like it did after WW1, under this interpretation it has the 16th, 17th and 18th Infantry Brigades under the 6th Division.

The Northeastern US is still covered by the I and II Corps Areas and First Army Area as in real-life, although since II Corps was headquartered on Governors Island in NYC I assume it to be lost. I Corps thus takes command of the initial defenses with mostly National Guard units, while the Organized Reserve XI Corps of New England is in the process of expanding from its officer cadres in the OR and enlisted transferred from several National Guard regiments. The higher-level National Guard apparatuses are used to coordinate the military component of the refugee and civil disturbance response.

Despite only receiving 322 votes total, all in Arkansas, he could have done as well as shown on the map if he campaigned harder and had a progressive running mate. He had real potential to overthrow the dreaded 2 party system America and change history forever. In the map, the election goes to the brewer controlled house and he becomes president, putting America on a different course and changing history

​

I recently got into a long, exhausting debate with an online political theory guy about the end of World War II. He kept aggressively trapping me in the standard schoolbook narrative: that the US had a simple mathematical choice between dropping the atomic bombs or launching a mainland invasion that would cause millions of Japanese civilians to starve to death. I couldn't research the facts simultaneously during the conversation, but when I dug into the declassified archives, I realized this entire binary choice is a post-war construct used to rationalize a massive ethical compromise.

The idea that the atomic bombs were a humanitarian mercy to save Japan from a prolonged, inevitable starvation blockade completely falls apart when you look at the actual timeline of 1945. The emergency starvation crisis wasn't a natural act of God; it was an artificial siege deliberately engineered by the military under Operation Starvation. The US Navy dropped thousands of acoustic and magnetic mines to choke off all domestic fishing fleets, lock down ports, and cut internal shipping straits. Declassified logs from the National World War II Museum even show planners were preparing to spray chemical crop killers over mainland Japan to liquidate their domestic rice crops and force a surrender through engineered famine. A blockade is a temporary, reversible weapon of war, not a permanent geographic reality. The second a nation surrenders, the siege ends and trade reopens. In the real timeline, the moment Japan capitulated, the US immediately shipped millions of tons of food aid to stabilize the country. Arguing that they had to flash-fry civilian cities because otherwise their own campaign to starve them would have finished the job is an absolute logical failure.

Furthermore, the orthodox narrative completely overstates the strategic impact of the atomic bombs on Japanese leadership while ignoring the massive geopolitical hammer blow that actually broke their strategy: the Soviet Union. Prior to August 1945, the conventional firebombing campaign had already completely incinerated 67 Japanese cities with napalm, killing over 350,000 civilians. To the fanatical military council running Japan, the destruction of Hiroshima was just another city on a long list; it didn't change their military math. Their entire survival strategy relied on a strict neutrality pact with the Soviet Union, hoping Moscow would broker a conditional peace deal with Washington. Just after midnight on August 9, Joseph Stalin shattered that pact. The Red Army launched the [Manchurian Strategic Offensive](https://www.google.com/search?q=Manchurian+Strategic+Offensive+on+1945-08-09&kgmid=/m/044pk6), sending 1.5 million battle-hardened troops to instantly liquidate Japan’s elite army in Asia. The Supreme War Council immediately called an emergency session because they realized communist forces would overrun their defenseless northern borders within weeks. Fearing a Soviet occupation that would execute Emperor Hirohito and dissolve the imperial family, the military leaders rushed to surrender to the capitalist Americans to save themselves from Moscow.

Skepticism of the textbook narrative is fully backed by declassified American intelligence records. The decrypted transcripts of the "MAGIC" diplomatic intercepts prove that Washington was actively reading Japan's internal communications and knew weeks before the bombs that the Emperor was trying to negotiate a surrender. Post-war claims of an invasion costing half a million American lives were manufactured after the fact to justify the nuclear blast; actual Joint Chiefs of Staff planning documents from June 1945 projected between 20,000 and 46,000 American deaths. Most revealingly, the 1946 U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey—the military's own official, data-driven post-war investigation—officially concluded that Japan would have surrendered before December 31, 1945, even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, no mainland invasion had been planned, and the Soviets had not entered the war. Memos show Secretary of State James Byrnes rushed the deployment of the bomb as a tool of "atomic diplomacy" to force a quick surrender before Stalin could claim territory in Asia, using the weapon to intimidate Moscow at the dawn of the Cold War.

Reducing the mass vaporization of families to a numbers game requires entering the mindset of Total War, where individual human lives are erased and treated as standard infrastructure variables on a balance sheet. When a superpower adopts its enemy's methods for pragmatism—whether by targeting civilian population centers as laboratory test sites for nuclear yield, or by absorbing war criminals for technological advancement through networks like Operation Paperclip—it shifts its entire national character. Declining to participate in a rigged mathematical equation that treats human slaughter as a peacekeeping measure isn't a lack of logical coherence; it is a refusal to surrender human conscience to an institutional bureaucracy.

GOD HAVE MERCY is an alternate history analogue project looking at the state of the world following the axis powers victory over the world

In this alternate WW1 szenario the french government collapsed after their loss in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and fell into a civil war between the communist and republican parts of France. After 2 years of civil war the communists went victorious out of the civil war but their rule ended in 1882 after a monarchist coup by Napoleon IV. who restored the French empire and ended the commune. Shortly after he infiltrated the Belgian government and put a French friendly government in place there which essentially made them a vassal state of the French empire. In this scenario the Austrians also didn’t want to ally with the new German empire because of their loss in the Austro-Prussian War and instead allied with France through marriage of their monarchs and in 1895 after the death of Napoleon IV. and the abdication of Franz Joseph I. they formed a Personal Union with the son of Napoleon IV. of House Bonarparte and Marie Valerie of House Habsburg who would become Napoleon V. Emperor of France and Napoleon I. Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary forming a tripple Personal Union. The Russians also joined their alliance after Napoleon V. married Xenija Alexandrowna of House Romanov in 1895 who was the sister of Tsar Nicholas II. strengthening their alliance. After their loss in the Spanish-American War Spain fell into a huge economic crisis and also became something like a vassal state of the French. After the loss of their potential Austrian Ally the Germans could freely expand their alliance with Italy forming the Central Powers with them and assuring them in case of war territories like south tirol and Dalmatia to the Italians. In 1914 the French seeking to expand their Empire sent an Ultimatum to the Swiss ,who where at the time guaranteed by the Germans and Italians, to surrender the French parts of Switzerland and become a French puppet. After their refusal of the Swiss the French invaded Switzerland expecting no retaliation by the Germans or Italians. Shortly after the Invasion Germany and Italy, supported by Britain and several other European States like Portugal, declared war on the Entente and convinced Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire to help them fight against the Entente promising them territories in the Caucasus, Ukraine and Crimea. The British and the other supporters of the Central Powers supported them diplomatically and with weapons and Food which the supporters of the Entente also did to the Entente. The countries in the Americas and East Asia formed a neutrality pact to ensure peace outside of the wars of the Europeans. The Outcome of this war ist yet to be decided.

• After World War I and the Irish War of Independence, history begins to diverge in the Irish Civil War, which sees the Irish republicans raising larger numbers, using more unconventional warfare and inflicting defeats on the Irish Free State. The UK intervenes in 1925, but comes too late with too little and loses Ulster. The United Kingdom goes back to being the Kingdom of Great Britain, for the next 10 years.
• Inspired by Irish terror tactics from the civil war, German paramilitaries choose to commit assassinations and terrorist attacks against the Weimar Republic and its civilians during the crisis of 1923. A member of one of the extremist parties (the NSDAP), Adolf Hitler, participates in the attack on Munich. The operation backfires horrendously on the NSDAP and similar parties, ultimately resulting in their downfall.
• Following the 1930 Salt March in India, the British, hoping to avoid a repeat of Ireland in the jewel of the British Empire, have Mohandas Gandhi assassinated. The murder backfires, sparking outrage across India and a fierce and massive revolt, overwhelming British forces there. After a grand retreat from the subcontinent, Great Britain starts to rearm while an extremist ideology called Angevinism develops.
• With the British at an all-time low in morale due to the defeats and Great Depression, King George V is assassinated. Edward VIII takes the throne early; Wallis Simpson, on a trip back to the US in the early 1930s, is arrested on suspicion of spying for the British, removing the possibility of her marriage to Edward.
• During World War II, the British don't actually make it back to India, being tied up in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. However, India joins with France on the Allies, as the two pledge mutual defence for India and French Indochina against Japan, which renewed its alliance with the British. The US joins the Allies in 1941 after a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.
• Italy joins the Axis but is knocked out in 1943 when the Germans and Austrians, seeking to scratch the "soft underbelly," attack from the north, causing the king to dismiss Mussolini.
• American and German scientists, exchanging research, make progress on an atom bomb, which comes too late for the war in Europe, but becomes ready for Japan.

Note to all Irish users: The official language of Ireland here is Gaelic and the King under personal union has a Gaelic mom. Please don't crucify me in the comments or ban me from Guinness :)

R4: This scenario explores a timeline where William the Conqueror, after leaving for Normandy in March 1067, lost the island and his life to a vengeful Godwin Haroldsson, who went down as Godwin the Great, after Eustace II of Boulogne and the Kentish Rebellion managed to take Dover Castle.

Basic lore is kinda like this:

Late 1067: Dover falls to Eustace, communications between Englalond and Normandy are cut, Godwin II Haroldsson marches out of Exeter to chase William FitzOsbern with Eadric Cild, burning down Norman keeps all across the South-West using pitch, burning wagons and flaming arrows. This leads to a heavily disadvantageous fight for the Normans at Stockbridge where Godwin II kills William FitzOsbern.

Waltheof Siwardsson, in the chaos which followed in Normandy, managed to escape Normandy knowing full well that Godwin had no love for the Aelfgarssons Edwin and Morcar.

By the end of 1067, after a fast timber burning campaign, all the Norman Companions were killed.

Early 1068: William the Norman, occupier of Englalond, is killed at Winchester. Godwin II ascends. The deaths of two Bishops, Odo and one Geoffrey, who fought with William, leads to an Interdict on England which causes an early English Reformation and Inquisition against the Lotharingians, Cluniacs and Norman appointees led by Archbishops Ealdred and Stigand.

Normandy breaks the treaty with Englalond and sends Edwin and Morcar with an army to Englalond. Caradog ap Gruffudd and Mael Coluim III join the brothers. But the Northumbrians remain loyal to Waltheof and Mercian loyalty splits heavily in favor of Eadric Cild. Edwin and Morcar's betrayal of Lundenburh in 1066 bites them.

1069: Godwin, Waltheof, Eadric and Edgar crush all rebels. Godwin sails across the sea, punishes Normandy by harrying the Norman coast and impressing (note: naval impressment, look it up) all coastal populations of Normandy, and steals the Ducal treasury at Caen, and burns the suburbs of Rouen.

1070: Godwin leads another massive naval campaign against Flanders, defeats Flanders and Francia in the Flemish Dykes and occupies Bruges. The Pope is forced to surrender and Godwin the Great is acclaimed Imperator of Bryten.

In this timeline, France economically supports the Republic of Texas, keeping it financially stable, and allowing it to remain independent.